Quantitative Research

As opposed to qualitative research, quantitative research is mainly concerned with numbers and data easily quantified. The most popular quantitative technique is the survey, often based on a large number of cases, where a broad overview of a market is required. Surveys can be administered by mail, telephone, face to face, or more recently by the Internet or World Wide Web.

They usually take less time to complete by the respondant and most often require choosing between several responses rather than long verbal responses. In market research, surveys often aim to understand a target market better by breaking down the sample by demographics, lifestyle and usage behaviour.